Howl
by darkh0rse
Summary: Werewolf!Danny drabble, post-episode 1x24 - implied Laura/Danny - Hollence


The pain that Laura's words inflicted on Danny are nothing compared to Carmilla's choke hold though she still felt her cold fingers curling around her windpipe.

She had to get out – out of the room, out of the building, as far away from Laura and her entire entourage as possible.

Danny stormed out the door, whizzing past notice boards as she marched through the hallways. Her throat felt dry and her mouth tasted bitter. Tears were stinging in her eyes, blurring her vision near the bottom but she wouldn't allow them to push through. She wouldn't allow herself to cry. Not over a stupid crush.

Not over _Laura_.

Stumbling, Danny made it outside. The cool air breezed into her face and tousled her hair and she was glad she wasn't feeling like she was being suffocated anymore.

She didn't really know where to go; the redhead completely lost any hold of anything that was going on. She didn't really see the students who walked past, didn't notice that the dorms gradually gave way to open fields and trees and before she knew it her feet took her to the Summer Society's athletics park.

The full moon shone down on the tall girl as she aimlessly wandered around, her eyes cast over and remote.

Danny was completely lost in her own world, just vague aware of her surroundings. Though she did her best not to think about Laura, she couldn't help but hear herself yell at the tiny girl, hear Laura's voice break when she helplessly yelled back. Danny couldn't help but to see Laura's face so hurt.

_Because it's like your job to keep me safe? I'm sorry that my making my own decisions and being reckless is making it hard for you to do your job!_

The redhead bit her lip. She wasn't trying to do any _job_ of protecting Laura – it was something that came very natural to her. And besides that, she actually believed that a vampire was out to kill and she was just afraid of the brunette _dying_. There was nothing heroic involved on Danny's part except standing up for the one she loved.

Not that it mattered anymore, anyway. Danny had heard enough to know that it was truly over this time.

Somewhere along the road she absentmindedly noticed that she was now walking on gravel. She looked down and was met with a dimly lit, but still very distinguishable run track. The smell of damp grass entered her nose but it did nothing at all to calm her down and she knew she needed to do something.

So Danny ran.

Light footsteps echoed along the track, the reddish gravel crunching under Danny's sneakers.

She couldn't quite remember when she started running or for how long until she could hear own heavy, rigid breaths; feel the hard ground under her feet, feel her heart pumping - she was slightly relieved to find out that her heart was still in its place despite the fact that it felt like Laura had ripped it out.

The redhead immediately questioned this statement when a pang of guilt hit her like a ton of bricks. Her throat tightened and she blinked back the tears.

_I like you. I really do._

Danny's eyebrows hunched together over her eyes, unconsciously balling her hands into fists.

_I like that you're strong, brave, and all kinds of righteous but I don't need a dad._

Danny felt her insides turn to stone as Laura's words echoed in her head, mouth still bitter and dry when she thought about it. The hardest thing about it was not accepting that Laura did not want to be with her but the fact that it was her own fault. She'd messed up. Done too much too quickly and became someone Laura didn't want.

The struggle to breathe became significantly harder when Danny thought too much about the brunette, so she quickly blocked out the thoughts.

She noticed that the bitter taste in her mouth would not disappear. Quickly, she felt around in her pockets and her hand closed around the key to the Summer Society headquarters. Maybe a nice glass of water would make the horrible sensation go away.

The redhead slowed down, feet heavy and trudging, drops of sweat trickling down her brow. She wiped them away before they came too close to her eyes but she immediately yanked her hand back as soon as the skin on the back of her hand connected with her forehead – or at least, what was supposed to be skin.

Instead, Danny was met with the sensation of _fur_.

Holding her trembling hand in front of her face, she saw what she perceived to be short strands of thick hair sticking out of her flesh.

"What the…" the redhead murmured, turning her hand around to inspect it whilst panic curled her heart like an iron fist. She hurried over to one of the lamp posts nearby; maybe it was just shadows playing tricks on her eyes. But when she neared the light it only became more evident that there was indeed hair growing out of her skin.

Red hair.

As she watched the hair (or fur? She wasn't sure) her breath got caught in her throat when she realized it was _expanding, _slowly trailing along her wrist, her forearm and also her now the blind panic had truly settled in and Danny had frozen in place, unable to move as she just watched her skin crawl with bushes of hair. Danny simply stared at the process which moved at an alarming rate. The hair now reached up to her fingers and elbow and finally the redhead found the courage to touch it.

Shaking fingertips brushed along the dense matt of fur and she wondered if her skin underneath still existed or if it had all turned into red hair.

Danny took a deep breath and locked her free hand around her wrist, relieved to find that her flesh and bones were still there. The small victory was however of rather short duration when the redhead spotted her fingers growing in size and her nails turning into vicious claws.

"Holy shit, what's happening to me!?"

Out of nowhere, Danny's legs started to give way and she fell to her knees. Hair curtained her face, horror written across her features as she watched her hand just _grow._

The hair got thicker and denser still and it had started to appear on her other hand, too, both limbs now morphing into monstrous paw-like things.

But that wasn't at all what frightened Danny the most – that was the fact that her face felt like it was about to cave in. It had been numb for quite a while but she figured that it was due to the cool air and the running, but now it felt like her skin was boiling. She touched her face with shaky hands but couldn't feel a thing because of the fur.

Soon, the feeling of fire racing just underneath her flesh was spreading. It coursed through her neck, her arms, from the tip of her toes and back up along her spine.

All Danny could think about was that she was probably going to die.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she curled up into a ball on the cold gravel, trying to block out everything. She breathed out hard, throat and lips still dry. Purely out of habit, Danny licked her lips but only to feel her tongue scrape against dangerously sharp teeth. Fangs. Razor sharp fangs, inside her mouth.

The sensation of her very bones and flesh bubbling like some sort of chemical concoction grew stronger and stronger and Danny didn't want to open her eyes to look at what exactly was happening to her. She just wished she was back with Laura, when things were still okay. When her life kinda made sense.

She gasped at the sound of her clothing ripping at the seams and she was painfully aware of her body increasing in size – way too big to fit in her shirt, her jeans.

At this moment she was very sure that she was, in fact, dying. Or hallucinating. Or, maybe both.

Just when Danny thought she had the worst of it her ears were pierced with the sound of a bone-chilling, animalistic howl, and fear and adrenaline spiked in her heart. It was only when the sound had subsided that the redhead realised that _she_ was the one who had howled.

"Oh no, no this can't be true!" she cried. Or at least, that was what she meant to say, but a series of growls and barks rolled past her lips.

Her eyes snapped open finally and, breathing very heavily, she slowly crawled back on her feet. Danny quickly noted that it was however not two feet that supported her, but four. And they looked more like claws than feet. Her whole body was trembling though it still felt like fire was consuming the blood in her veins.

And then, clear as day, Danny understood.

She looked up to the cloudless sky, a full moon shining back at her. Right. Werewolf. Nothing's too crazy for this damned university.

There she stood, in the middle of the Summer Society's run track. Danny the gigantic, snarling werewolf. The red fur coat started out in a bright ginger tone near her muzzle, darkening in colour the further the fur stretched across her back until it ended in a pitch black tip on her fuzzy tail, as well as the ends of her huge paws.

A breeze rippled through the hairs and they glistened underneath the pale moon light.

Despite the still very present fear and panic, Danny calmed down because she was just glad to still be alive and well. Although well might not be totally accurate.

The werewolf took a few tentative steps forward, dark eyes flitting back and forth across the athletics park. Her senses had increased greatly – she could see perfectly well though it was past dusk and her sense of smell was like nothing she could have imagined. She felt stronger; more alive.

A few growls, rumbling like thunder, ripped from her throat as she tried to sigh. The tentative steps became leaps, and soon she was running across the track.

Relief washed over Danny in enormous waves and she felt unburdened as the wind whizzed past her and through her hair, each thud of her claws hitting the ground creating a rhythm that she felt at peace with. It was slightly scary how natural moving her new body was to Danny. It was scary how _enjoyable_ it was.

Yet here she was, hurtling her way through the exit, out in the open like she did it daily.

She felt the heavy muscles of her limbs ripple with each fast tread. The ground seemed to tremble with her as she pelted across a field.

Danny however didn't have much freedom to exercise her new… form, because when she sprinted off towards the woods she was met with giant mushrooms. Baring her teeth in a snarl (Danny hoped that it came across as a vicious smirk, but can wolves smirk?), she realised that this was _exactly _the exercise she needed.


End file.
